A young doctor will be hoping he has the perfect prescription to stay in the Voice of Ireland this weekend.

Junior doctor Emmett Daly, who graduated from UCC in 2012, will fight for his place in the RTE competition as he takes to the Helix this Sunday.

However, the talented 26-year-old, who's a locum in Bon Secours in Glasnevin, has had to overcome huge hurdles in order to take to the stage in DCU.

"The Voice of Ireland really represents two different opportunities for me. As well as the singing, it also represented the chance to overcome a lack of confidence that I've had from when I was very young," he told the Herald.

"I'm on the show to say, 'There's no one face to mental health' and if I can shed any form of light on that, I'd be delighted."

He revealed how he has battled depression and social phobias from the age of 12 and, despite his love of music, he has always found performing in public a huge challenge.

"When I started secondary school, I started a singing class but I dropped out because I couldn't even read in front of my fellow students," he continued.

"Then I went to UCC and it's very proactive about mental health awareness. I did a public speaking workshop for three weeks and entered my first singing competition after that.

He said he felt a particular connection with show judge Bressie, given all his work on the issue of mental health.

He was naturally hoping that he'd be the one that turned around for him during his blind audition.

"I really admire him. I follow his blog A Lust for Life and I think he's fantastic, all the work that he's done in this area," he added.

"I still struggle with issues occasionally and I don't think it's something that you can fully cure but the important thing is not to isolate yourself and also to seek help if you really need it."

He managed to put all his nerves aside to perform Broken Wings by Mr Mister on the hit RTE competition and he said the experience was amazing.

He was supported at the Helix by his Brazilian boyfriend Daniel Castro and said he's still in touch with some of the people he met on the day.